CRESTVIEW — The City Council and Community Redevelopment Agency agreed to enter into an agreement with Okaloosa County governing the redevelopment board at their respective April 9 meetings.
The agreement, which the Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners also approved at its March 27 meeting, extends the CRA’s mandate for another 15 years, until 2040.
Crestview’s CRA deals with revitalization projects primarily in the Main Street and downtown areas of the city. The board is composed of the five city council members and two appointed citizen board members.
The agreement will also add an eighth member to the board. That member will be a county commissioner to be appointed by the commission.
Board member Shannon Hayes said he wanted to clarify that the new board member will be a non-voting member.
The city council and board of county commissioners held a joint meeting Feb. 3 at Warrior’s Hall to discuss details of the agreement.
At that meeting, commissioner Nathan Boyles discussed the need for further cooperation between the county and the CRA in the form of county representation on the board. He also addressed the need to extend the CRA due to developments at the state level that may make it impossible to do so in the near future.
Hayes said any representative from the county would need to be a County Commissioner, and proposed the 15-year extension for the CRA instead of the previously proposed 10-year extension.
The increase in the number of board members also requires a change in the city’s ordinance. The first reading of that ordinance was also agreed to unanimously by the council on Monday night, but will need to be approved on a second reading before it can take effect.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CRA, City approve agreement with County